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<br />5 <br /> <br />Tertiary sediments in the basin are approximately 5,000 feet <br />thick, and ,consist of four (4) major stratigraphic units. The <br />units in ascending order are the Ohio Creek Formation (Paleocene, <br />Wasatch Formation (Paleocene-Eocenel, Green River Formation <br />(Eocene), and the Uinta Formation (Eocene). Of these four units, <br />the Green River Formation is the most important in regard to the <br />solution mining of nahcolite. <br />The Green River Formation is divided into four (4) members; <br />the Douglas Creek, Garden Gulch, Anvil Points, and Parachute <br />Creek. The Parachute Creek member is the thickest and most <br />economically important unit in the Green River Formation; it has <br />a large areal extent and contains all of the commercial resources <br />of oil shale, nahcolite, dawsonite, and halite. This member <br />ranges in thickness from less than 200 feet south of the Colorado <br />River to more than 2,000 feet~.n.the north-central part of the ~ <br />basin. The approximate thickness of the Parachute member beneath ,a1`~ ~~ <br />the American Soda leases is.•.1, 495" fee _QiL shale is the ~a;~"~ l~' e+'~ <br />dominate lithology; other rock' types ihclude marlstone, ~ °N~''n9 y <br />nahcolite, dawsonite, and halite. Planned solution minin t~~,,"'S' <br />activity on American Soda's Yankee Gulch Joint Venture odium <br />leases will primarily involve only the upper part o he Green <br />River Formation, specifically the Parachute ee ember. The 7ty <br />Parachute Creek member can be divided into two major units, the .~ ~.. <br />Saline zpne (766 feet thick) and the Leache zone (356 feet r a ~e~~. <br />thick)(k~~y The Leached zone is the result of dissolution of saline ,c~°r; t'+ <br />minerals byLownward percolation of ground water. The main F~~y'~.r '_ <br />stratigraphic section of saline minerals (i.e., the Saline zone) <br />reaches a maximum thickness of about 1,100 feet. The Saline zone <br />contains the nacholite resources of primary interest to American <br />Soda. The Saline zone is a complex array of bedded halite <br />deposits and bedded and non-bedded nahcolite occurrences. At the <br />base of the Leached zone is a layer referred to as the <br />Dissolution Surface which represents the lowermost penetration of <br />ground water into the Parachute Creek member, and marks the <br />contact between the Leached and Saline zones. <br />Hydrogeology: <br />Underground sources of drinking water (USDWs) are defined in <br />40 CFR § 144.3 as an aquifer or its portion: <br />(a)(1) which supplies any public water system; or <br />(a1 (2) / which contains a sufficient quantity of <br />ground water to supply a public water system; <br />and <br />(i! currently supplies drinking water for human <br />consumption; or <br />(ii) /contains fewer than 10,000 mg/1 total <br />dissolved solids; and <br />